When travelling with an infant in a vehicle having front and rear seats such as an automobile, truck, van, or the like, it is most preferable, if not by law required, to place the infant in the rear seat of the vehicle due to safety considerations or other reasons such as the presence of another passenger occupying the front passenger seat.
Often the infant is placed in a rearwardly facing safety seat in the rear seat. A problem therefore arises that the infant is not visible by a driver or other person in the front seat. All that can be seen is the back of the safety seat, particularly where the safety seat also includes sides thereon. As a result, the state or condition of the infant cannot be determined without stopping the vehicle or bending over the back of the front seat while driving, the latter being obviously dangerous.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,702,572 to Cossey and 4,712,892 to Masucci each teach solutions to this problem.
The patent to Cossey discloses a system, for viewing an infant in the rear seat of a vehicle, utilizing a mirror attached by means of a mounting bracket to the top of the rear seat back. The mirror is pivotally connected by means of a ball and socket adjustment to an upper end of a telescopic vertical adjustment which extends upwardly from a spring biased mounting bracket. The position of the mirror in the system obstructs the driver's view through the rear window of the vehicle which may impair safe driving.
Further, the mounting bracket is not suitable for attachment to seat backs of varying thickness dimensions. The arrangement must therefore be manufactured using brackets of different sizes for fitting to existing car seats.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,892 to Masucci discloses a reflector device including a non-glass planar mirror, which device is for mounting below an upper edge of the rear seat back and directly in front of an infant in a rearwardly facing safety seat. While the device has the advantage of providing an unobstructed view through the rear window, a person in the front seat must either turn around and look at the reflector directly to view the infant, or adjust the rear view mirror so that it is directed towards the mirror of the reflector device. In the latter case, the rear view mirror is no longer effective in providing a view through the rear window. This presents a danger to driving. In order that the rear view mirror may be used to view both the infant and the rearward driving conditions through the rear window, the rear view mirror must be alternately adjusted to perform these two functions.
Another problem with the disclosed device is that the mirror is not adjustable about a vertical axis. The device must be mounted directly in front of the infant to function for the stated purpose. Thus, in front or rear end collisions, or when coming to a sudden stop, there is a possibility that the infant may be forced into the device and suffer consequent harm.
Further, in a vehicle having only two seats in the rear seat, it is very difficult to position the mirror on the seat back in such a way that an image of the infant is reflected to the rear view mirror for viewing. One must, in most cases, turn around to view the mirror directly to see the infant.
It is an object of the invention to alleviate the above mentioned problems in the prior art.